Teachers buying food, providing winter coats and even beds for students who come to school hungry or exhausted. This is happening in classrooms across the UK, with such acts of compassion becoming increasingly frequent as child poverty reaches alarmingly new heights in this developed country.
Recent figures released by the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) paint a deeply concerning picture with around 4.45 million children living in low-income families in the UK last year. What is of even more concern is that this number has steadily increased since records began in 2002, reaching its highest point in 2024, with over 100,000 more children affected than in the previous year.
Behind the statistics are real children struggling to focus in the classroom as their families cannot afford to secure the basic essentials for them.
Under UK guidelines, a child is considered to be living in poverty if their household income is below 60% of the median income after housing costs. Currently, the UK median income is £37,430, which drops to about £22,500 once housing costs are deducted.
As schools across the country share heartbreaking stories, the government has announced plans to cut benefit spending by £6.4 billion over the next 10 years which could affect 3.2 million families annually, costing them an average of £1,720 per year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves argued that the cuts will encourage more people into the labour market where they can earn decent wages.
“I want more people to benefit from the security, the dignity, the extra money that comes from having a job. We want people to move into secure, well-paid employment, and we’re going to give people the support to get there.”
While the state believes that the newly announced cuts will lead to people seeking employment, experts warn that these policy changes will only make things worse.
Projections by the DWP suggest that by 2029–2030, the number of children living in poverty could increase to 4.8 million, largely driven by the proposed welfare cuts.
Save the Children UK has criticised the government’s response, calling the rise in child poverty “a political choice”. Dan Paskins, the charity’s director, commented:
“The government must take immediate action to ensure more children do not fall into poverty next year. If they don’t, this could be the first Labour government that oversees a significant rise in child poverty – a record no one wants.”
The End Child Poverty coalition echoed these concerns, urging the government to treat the latest data as a wake-up call. Oxfam has also weighed in with Silvia Galandini, its Domestic Poverty Lead, criticising the government for slashing social support while refusing to consider modest taxes on the super-rich.
“It is unconscionable that the government is cutting social security while wilfully ignoring the huge potential revenue of a tiny tax on the super-rich, one that is overwhelmingly backed by the British public,” she said.
While the discussions continue over growing child poverty and the expected welfare cuts, the impact is being felt daily in schools across the UK. Addressing the National Education Union’s (NEU) annual conference, school leaders shared sorrowful stories of children from struggling families being helped by their teachers to secure food and basic essentials such as winter clothes, beds or pillows.
Chris Dutton, speaking on behalf of NEU leaders, said:
“It shouldn’t be coming out of school budgets, but we shouldn’t be having children living in these circumstances.”
He added:
“We know that we can give out some payments to help with heating, but we have to plan that ahead. It’s more worrying for teachers and school leaders, who really want to be focusing on education – not filling the gaps that others should have addressed before the child ever walked into school.”
